NBN will lift regional broadcasting costs: Stokes

“The future will be a lot more difficult when we get asked to use the NBN,” Seven West’s Kerry Stokes says.
Photo: Andrew Meares

by
Gemma Daley

The national broadband network is going to increase costs for television stations to broadcast to regional areas, says
Kerry Stokes
, the chairman and controlling shareholder of
Seven West Media
.

Mr Stokes, in evidence to a parliamentary committee, said the $40 billion NBN, which will deliver high-speed broadband, was one of the main cost factors weighing on networks.

“The future will be a lot more difficult when we get asked to use the NBN," he told the committee, which is considering whether Parliament should abolish the rule that limits TV broadcasters to 75 per cent of the audience.

“We pay for transmissions and once we go to NBN we will have to use the NBN to use their facilities and their facilities are much more expensive," Mr Stokes said.

NBN costs were a major factor in determining the company’s future investments, he said.

Seven West Media owns television stations,
West Australian Newspapers
, Pacific Magazines and has a digital joint venture in Yahoo!7.